Storyline

BC Racers tries to create a racing simulation by mixing the usual elements of games of this genre with the “prehistoric” theme. Particularly, the game takes place in the world of one of Core's iconic characters, Chuck Rock. The storyline of the game is pretty simple, but it adds much to the general feeling: the millionaire playboy caveman Millstone Rockafella has organized a BC bike race, the winner of which will receive the Ultimate Boulderdash Bike. Six groups of riders -one driving, one deploying weapons from the sidecar- from all around the prehistoric world will use their rock-powered sidecars to compete for this prize.

Description and Gameplay

BC Racers has four difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, Hard and Rockhard. Each of the settings has eight different circuits, making a total of 32 circuits in the game. There are also eight themes, from desert wastes to active volcanos and massive jungles. The tracks need four laps to complete, and feature many special elements specific to the circuit's setting. Unusually for a game of this type, there are no power-ups, except for a “turbo” that the bikes can trigger every few seconds.

Other unusual feature of the game is the function of the bikes' riders: both of them can use physical attacks to injure other drivers. If the bike gets beaten enough, it crashes out, giving the player extra points. Of course, the same thing can happen to the player's bike.

The game does not seek to accurately simulate real world bikes, driving conditions, or physics. In fact, many internet reviews consider the bikes quite hard to control, since the steering reacts much stronger than in other racing games.

Some ports of the game include a split-screen two player mode. However, other ports didn't include this modality, having instead a two player cooperative mode (one of the players controls the driver, while the other controls the fighting, steering and turbo).

Trivia

Some of the riders in BC Racers come from other famous Core Design games, such as Chuck Rock and Chuck Rock Junior. Others are obvious references to several real world characters, such as Brick Jagger and Jimi Handtrix (referencing Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix).

A fun prehistoric racing game that was also released on many console systems. The storyline is as simple as the gameplay: millionaire caveman Millstone Rockafella has arranged a formula BC contest with a Ultimate Boulderdash Bike as the prize. A host of bizarre characters have entered in pairs — one driving, one deploying weapons from the side-car — in a wacky race across eight circuits ranging from a “jungle rumble” to the hellish “volcano dash”.

There are four skill settings and they make a significant difference in game, with “easy level” loop tracks suddenly spawning all sorts of dog-leg corners and chicanes on harder difficulty settings. Other than that, it's all very straightforward with no power-ups or unusual hazards — apart from bridges and leaps.

Besides one-player mode, you have a choice of competing against a second player alone or with all the racers included. Getting down to gameplay, the first minutes you need to get used to the steering which reacts much stronger than in kart games. The first stage is easy and just a warm-up.

The second one features a race at night as extra difficulty. There's a light spot in front of you, in the area of your front lamp, but the view is much worse than in the first stage. Upcoming stages feature bridges and ramps — too bad if you miss them — and even snow. After eight stages, the settings repeat but with new courses. This way, you get 32 levels in all.

The higher levels have quite interesting course lay-outs (in contrast to the rather simple first eight levels) with narrow passages and even narrower short-cuts. As they get very difficult later on, it should be enough to keep you occupied for a while. Even more in split-screen two-player-mode, of course, which harks back to the days of Epyx's Pitstop, with very good graphics detail that isn't very pixellated. Overall, if you enjoy Wacky Wheels or other kart racing games, you'll enjoy BC Racers.

This game was released as freeware in 1995.